The Great Room, poem by Emile Verhaeren

Poem by Emile Verhaeren Period 19th century

And this is how the welcoming room appeared
Where the stranger found good lodging and comfort,
Where the sons were born, where the grandfather died,
Where they had packed that great body into its coffin.

At kermesses, on fair days and days of finery,
The farm celebrated there its customary feast,
And long ago, when the farmer’s wife still lived,
She sat enthroned there, at the center, with her gold pendants.

The walls were roughcast, two massive wardrobes
Displayed in the corners their wood streaked with moires;
At the back, a plaster christ expired beneath a canopy,

Brow pierced, eyes open upon the drunken revels;
And the scent of lard and the smell of fats
Rose toward his naked heart, like a wicked incense.

Emile Verhaeren

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/poem-the-great-room-emile-verhaeren/